Britons in hotel blast horror

AT LEAST 19 people are believed dead and 120 wounded with 38 missing, after a huge double bomb blast at a Red Sea resort in Egypt. Two Britons were injured in the first explosion which tore through the luxury Hilton hotel at Taba.

AT LEAST 19 people are believed dead and 120 wounded with 38 missing, after a huge double bomb blast at a Red Sea resort in Egypt.

Two Britons were injured in the first explosion which tore through the luxury Hilton hotel at Taba, late last night, only yards from the border with Israel.

A car bomb and suicide bomber were today being blamed for the carnage.

A car laden with explosives drove into the hotel lobby, while a suicide bomber detonated near the hotel swimming pool.

The twin blast collapsed a 10-storey wing of the luxury hotel, where hundreds of Israelis were on holiday to celebrate the end of a Jewish festival.

Israel has ruled out links to Palestinian militants and supects groups affiliated to al Qaida are behind the deadly attacks.

Briton Catherine Hurd, who was caught up in the attack, said people were screaming as the blast shook the hotel. She told reporters: "I was closing my doors and suddenly felt this incredible shudder, incredible dust and everything in the ceiling.

"It didn't come down, but everything in the room was disarranged.

Holiday

"Everybody was screaming."

London-based Longwood Holidays had 19 British clients in the Hilton Taba. "We understand that all 19 are out of the hotel and all are safe," said Frances Tuke, spokeswoman for the Association of British Travel Agents.

The explosion was followed by two smaller blasts at other tourist sites on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, apparently caused by bombs in pick-up trucks. About 15,000 Israelis had been spending the week-long Jewish holiday of Sukkot in the Sinai, despite warnings by the Israeli government a month ago that there was a high probability of a terror attack on Israeli tourists in the area.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell last night said: "If, as appears to be the case, this is the result of terrorism, it is a disgraceful action targeting innocent holidaymakers.

"No matter what you believe, nothing but nothing justifies suicide bombings which cause loss of life."

A spokesman for Hilton International said: "We are deeply shocked by this serious incident which occurred in the Hilton Taba.

"Our sincere condolences go to the family and friends of those who have been killed and injured as a result.

"Taba is an Egyptian-owned hotel, managed over the past 10 years by Hilton Internationa, and is regularly used by Israelis."